Tuesday 17 September 2024


Fun with a Power Mac G4
=======================

I booted my old Power Mac G4 (AGP graphics).
This is a machine with a 400 MHz PowerPC G4 and 704 MB RAM memory
from around 1999.

It is running Mac OS X 10.3.9.

While I was working at the University of Delft, one of the professors
gifted me this wonderful machine. It came with two hard disks, a 9.57
GB Quantum Fireball and a 74.53 GB Western Digital. Also it came with
a lovely monitor, an 15 inch flat panel Graphite Apple Studio Display
with a resolution of 1024x768.

At the moment there is not much software on the G4. It does run
Firefox 1.5.0.7, and Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.2, both with the
capability to open Gopher sites.

Emacs 22.05 is also in this machine, and I am currently writing this
post in it.

TP-Link Access Point
--------------------
The G4 doesn't support WiFi. The machine is under my desk in the
attic, where there is no wired network.

I retrieved an old TP-Link Access Point from one of the cabinets. This
is a device that looks a bit like an UFO, with three impressive
antennas. I discovered that it can run in a so-called "client mode",
intended to provide WiFi access to devices without WiFi support. After
a reset and the setup, the G4 now has internet :)

SSH
---
The G4 runs OpenSSH 4.5. This is too old to connect to the machines in
my home network. I still have to find a solution for that.

Installing some extra software
------------------------------
Headcrash was so kind to point me to some sources to get additional
software from.

Palm Desktop
------------
I installed the Palm Desktop 4.2.1. and connected my Palm TX using
an Palm USB cable that I found in the drawer with the Palm III and
the Palm TX.

Recently I wrote the ROOPLOCH 2024 phlog post [1] on the Palm TX and
discovered it still had some old work related data on it. After I had
published the phlog, I did a factory reset on the Palm.

To see how the 'hot sync' of the Palm with the Palm Desktop would
work, I added some tasks and a memo on the Palm (writing in Grafiti
again). The 'hot sync' worked flawless, the tasks and memo are now
on the G4 :) 

Using the Palm Desktop software I marked some tasks as `done' and
created another memo. With another hot sync, this was synchronized
to the Palm device. 

Wonderful! With this the Palm is fully operational again. Now I am
curious if this will also work with my Palm III but that has to wait,
because first the batteries need to be replaced.

X-Chat Aqua
-----------
I installed X-Chat Aqua version 0.10.1 and now am connected
to Libera.chat with it. I guess this is the first time I use
a graphical IRC client :)

Adium
-----
Adium is a instant messaging client that supports several protocols,
including Jabber.

In the past, Headcrash and I tried to find Jabber servers that doesn't
require encryption to connect. From this time, I still have my account
at jodo.im, and indeed I could connect to it with Adium.

I have no buddies there, most other Jabber servers won't connect to
it.

Closing words
-------------
It is great to play with this machine again, I still love the 15 inch
Studio Display.


Fortunately I can use my snippet-service/file-dropper [2], build with
pure HTML (no JavaScript). I am using this to easily transfer this
text to my FreeBSD machine, without the need of SSH.

[1]: gopher://box.matto.nl/0/rooploch-2024-phlog.txt
[2]: gopher://box.matto.nl/0/pastebin-and-file-dropper-server-on-codeberg.txt


Last edited: $Date: 2024/09/17 11:50:58 $